Christmas is Over - Let's Hear Some Birdies for Springtime

Happy new year, everyone! I hope you had a great Christmas and a lovely "slide" into the new year, as we say in German. Any new year's resolutions? Mine are fairly simple:

1. Spend more time with the children
2. Smoke less
3. Update the blog more regularly
4. Study on time to avoid nightshifts and worries as before deadline in December
5. Take more photos and experiment more with photography
   

I am a self-confessed Christmas-lover, but this year I seem to be a bit impatient about getting all the Christmas stuff down again. Traditionally the date for that is the 6th of January. Maybe I can't wait for that because our - beautiful - Christmas tree is half-naked already. No, decorations are still up, but the tree looses needles if you as much as cough beside it!!! The cats have been doing their best, too, to strip the tree of its greenery. Well - nonetheless it was a beautiful tree and the photos I took do not do it any justice:

However, now that we have passed the winter solstice and the days are getting longer again - yoohay - I can't wait to leave Christmas behind me and welcome the spring. My fingers were itching again to do something crafty, so I sat down spontaneously yesterday with a bright idea. Seeing that bird silhouettes are still - just about? - the rage, I made some bird magnets.

You probably have some old, simple fridge magnets stuck on your fridge door. Well, actually you may not - as you all have carefully decorated, tastefully designed kitchens in which mucky old magnets do not feature *ahem*. Well, mine came from the dishwasher door *double ahem* ... box with thrown-out bits and pieces. *remembertoincludenotlyinginlistofresolutions*  Anyway, you often get them as little advertising gifts, thin strips of magnets with a company logo or message printed onto them. 

I doodled a bit and then settled on a bird design which I drew onto the back of the magnet. I used some silver gel marker for that - just because that was easily visible on the black magnet.

Then I cut out the silhouette with my kitchen scissors. This part of the project probably would benefit from some sharp crafting scissors. But with a bit of patience and luck even my klutzy kitchen scissors did the trick and I cut out two different types of silhouettes.

Lastly I simply coloured the front of it in with some black permanent marker. Any colour, I guess, would do. You could tie them in with your colour scheme or use spray paint to get an even finish. 

Here are the birdies - they have taken refuge on my poetree on the dishwasher door. What do you think of them?